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6 years ago
Now I know I've suddenly turned around my lack of input here, and I kinda want to touch on why I've suddenly done this.
The reason is identity politics.
Now I also know that many people are gonna think 'oh god, not again', so if you don't wanna read yet another journal about this shit, then click away now.
I'm not a fan of SJWs, or feminists or all those types of 'affirmative action' people like I see in social media, carrying on about how the straight white cismales are oppressing and putting them down. I really would like to punch some of those people's teeth out on account of the horribly racist and sexist things they say, especially the types who say 'there's no such thing as reverse racism' when they're shitting on white people. They're only partly right - it's just basic racism.
But colour is not what I'm making this journal about. It's gender.
Now I don't hide the fact that I'm not a binary-identified person. My fursona and all my side characters are of non-binary orientations as of writing this. And this is where the identity politics come in.
Many people on the internet these days seem to have an issue with people like myself and others using the term 'cuntboy' - a phrase that I'm quite comfortable with, as whenever it's mentioned, you immediately think of a male with a vagina. And while I don't mind if you don't like the term - you are entitled to your opinion after all - I do mind when you start trying to force your perception of gender on me.
The catalyst for this has been a recent change to a (as far as I know) popular furry art repository: e621.net
They've 'aliased' (essentially renamed) the tags for cuntboy to 'andromorph', which according to google means (and I quote) 'An organism with male physical characteristics; male mimic. An andromorphic person.'
Now this, I cannot believe is acceptable in 2019. We, as a society, are meant to be moving into an age where everyone's identity is accepted and respected, and noone discriminates against someone for their identity, and yet somehow a widely-used site like e621 has made the decision to go against that, and basically say 'fuck you, you don't have a gender, you're just an organism with male characteristics', denying a group of people the tag they identify with, essentially just because a few people found the word crude, or because some trans people got upset that we cuntboys look almost identical to a mid-transition ftm character.
Well I'm sorry you're upset, and I know you don't like being misgendered, but god fucking damnit I don't much like having my identity denied either! Heck, within the last few hours I had someone refer to me with the pronoun 'she', and rather than kick up a stink about it, I just politely corrected them.
I'm no social justice warrior, nor am I some movement leader (nor do I want to be), but I felt this needed to be said, needed to be put out there for people to see and read and maybe, just maybe, they'll think about it enough to realize that calling cuntboys a 'slur' is the very thing they claim that slur to be: offensive and discriminatory.
Now, I've said my bit, and I'm going to leave the comments on for now, but if things get out of hand, I'll have to turn them off.
Oh, and if you wanna call me a transphobe for saying all this; fuck off.
The reason is identity politics.
Now I also know that many people are gonna think 'oh god, not again', so if you don't wanna read yet another journal about this shit, then click away now.
I'm not a fan of SJWs, or feminists or all those types of 'affirmative action' people like I see in social media, carrying on about how the straight white cismales are oppressing and putting them down. I really would like to punch some of those people's teeth out on account of the horribly racist and sexist things they say, especially the types who say 'there's no such thing as reverse racism' when they're shitting on white people. They're only partly right - it's just basic racism.
But colour is not what I'm making this journal about. It's gender.
Now I don't hide the fact that I'm not a binary-identified person. My fursona and all my side characters are of non-binary orientations as of writing this. And this is where the identity politics come in.
Many people on the internet these days seem to have an issue with people like myself and others using the term 'cuntboy' - a phrase that I'm quite comfortable with, as whenever it's mentioned, you immediately think of a male with a vagina. And while I don't mind if you don't like the term - you are entitled to your opinion after all - I do mind when you start trying to force your perception of gender on me.
The catalyst for this has been a recent change to a (as far as I know) popular furry art repository: e621.net
They've 'aliased' (essentially renamed) the tags for cuntboy to 'andromorph', which according to google means (and I quote) 'An organism with male physical characteristics; male mimic. An andromorphic person.'
Now this, I cannot believe is acceptable in 2019. We, as a society, are meant to be moving into an age where everyone's identity is accepted and respected, and noone discriminates against someone for their identity, and yet somehow a widely-used site like e621 has made the decision to go against that, and basically say 'fuck you, you don't have a gender, you're just an organism with male characteristics', denying a group of people the tag they identify with, essentially just because a few people found the word crude, or because some trans people got upset that we cuntboys look almost identical to a mid-transition ftm character.
Well I'm sorry you're upset, and I know you don't like being misgendered, but god fucking damnit I don't much like having my identity denied either! Heck, within the last few hours I had someone refer to me with the pronoun 'she', and rather than kick up a stink about it, I just politely corrected them.
I'm no social justice warrior, nor am I some movement leader (nor do I want to be), but I felt this needed to be said, needed to be put out there for people to see and read and maybe, just maybe, they'll think about it enough to realize that calling cuntboys a 'slur' is the very thing they claim that slur to be: offensive and discriminatory.
Now, I've said my bit, and I'm going to leave the comments on for now, but if things get out of hand, I'll have to turn them off.
Oh, and if you wanna call me a transphobe for saying all this; fuck off.
These bastards got even here!
There are FtM who hate the term (yet themselves wouldn't be classified as a SJW) as because they personally don't want there to be a label that classifies them to what they have, or don't have between their legs; and there are those FtM and those who identify as who fully embrace the word as a correct term for themselves.
There is no right answer, there will be a side that is going to be disappointed in the decision made.
Like how it's not okay to just call anyone a slut, whore, bitch or whatever, but it's okay if you identify as it yourself.
The change is something that I have noticed as well and it completely misrepresents my sona on e621 now. Since I'm non-binary, female leaning, I use female pronouns for comfort, since I dislike they/them being used for me. I'm a tomboy, I enjoy some of my masculine traits and I certainly don't mind being sexualized/fetishized. But now the tags on e621 make it seem like my sona is trans masculine which is just, wrong.
I have had extensive conversations about this in a Discord server with some friends. Some people thought change was needed, but that this is far from the right solution for a problem that sure existed, but it literally causes other people to be alienated. It's just a dumb mess of political correctness and they fucked it up. They could have given people more control over what tags could be used for their characters. They literally have a system in place that allows you to blacklist your own art so no-one else can upload it. This is one of the most silly changes I have seen, not just in the fandom, just in general.
Tl:dr: Change was probably needed, but they didn't go the right way about it, since now they are alienating other people by stripping them off their identity.
It's like people complaining about the use of the word "monkey" if it makes them think of black people. "Don't say that, it makes me have discriminatory thoughts!" My use of cuntboy makes others think of transgenders, so it's offensive, these nutjobs tell me. No. I refuse to take responsibility for the associations people make on their own.
Really, the only way to win is to not play. Don't legitimize anybody who tries to control your language or thoughts.
I wish people wouldn't latch onto this term or that term as "derogatory." Like TheOnlySkyWolf said; at the core the terms just identify a larger concept with minimal expenditure of breath.
I'd like to say that if anyone that reads this hates 'X' militant group, whether you think it's the wermacht or the reds, they wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet through somebody's brains if anyone acted like this. I'm not saying this as a threat, but as a fact of life.
There's worse things to worry about than whether or not somebody thinks about you.